Title Information
Title
From Payer to Provider: Impacts of Insurer Vertical Expansion into Physician Services
Type of Resource (primo)
technical_reports
Abstract
Vertical integration can both create efficiencies and harm competition. We examine these tensions through one of the most prominent forms of vertical integration in the United States: the acquisition of physician practices by the nation’s largest insurer, UnitedHealth Group. Using a difference-in-differences design and Medicare administrative data, we find minimal changes to acquired practice case mix or care quality, but do find evidence of increased coding intensity. Insurer-provider integration can have significant fiscal externalities.
Name
Name Part
Jeffrey Marr
Role
Role Term (marcrelator) (authorityURI="http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators", valueURI="http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators/aut")
Author
Name
Name Part
Christopher M. Whaley
Role
Role Term (marcrelator) (authorityURI="http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators", valueURI="http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators/aut")
Author
Name
Name Part
Xiaoxi Zhao
Role
Role Term (marcrelator) (authorityURI="http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators", valueURI="http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators/aut")
Author
Origin Information
Date Created
2026-04-14
Subject (Local)
Topic
Primary Care
Subject (Local)
Topic
Insurer vertical integration
Subject (Local)
Topic
health care markets
Subject (Local)
Topic
United Healthcare
Genre
Working Paper
Access Condition: use and reproduction
All rights reserved
Access Condition: rights statement (href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/")
In Copyright
Access Condition: restriction on access
All Rights Reserved
Identifier: DOI
10.26300/9xte-nh94